Payment In Blood Av Elizabeth George

<p><b>The second novel in the bestselling series that inspired BBC's <i>Lynley.</i></b><br><br>An isolated Scottish mansion is the venue for a reading of a controversial new play by a West End theatre company. But on the very first evening, the playwright is savagely murdered, and Inspector Thomas Lynley faces the most testing case of his career.<br><br>For one of the suspects is Lady Helen Clyde. The love of Lynley's life.<br><br>As he attempts to untangle the family scandals, fierce theatrical rivalries and long-buried secrets that beset the case, Lynley struggles to balance the clinical detachment of his job with the intensity of his feelings.<br><br><b>Praise for <i>Payment in Blood</i></b><br><br><b>'A treat - splendidly plotted and beautifully written'</b><br><b>Colin Dexter, creator of <i>Inspector Morse</i><br><br>'The best novel of detection I have read in a long time. It scores on all counts: plot, pace, ingenuity, excitement and characterisation'</b><br><b>Ted Willis<br><br></b><b>'There is much here to solve, three detective novels' worth in the hands of a lesser writer. In <i>Payment in Blood</i>, however, nothing even seems so much as cluttered'</b><br><b><i>Washington Post</i></b><br><br><b>'Confirms the talent on such confident display in <i>A Great Deliverance</i> . . . The crisp, literate narration firmly draws us in'</b><br><b><i>New York Times Book Review</i></b><br><br><b>'George has aptly been compared to P.D. James, and her similar attention to subtleties of character lifts this traditional whodunnit out of the ordinary'</b><br><b><i>Chicago Sun-Times</i></b></p>